Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with secure multi-party computation. There have been many initiatives to accomplish related tasks such as secure multi-party computation (SMC) [1-6], secret handshakes [7], oblivious transfer [8], and even patents for privacy-preserving shared document comparison [9] and shared secret verification [10]. There are also a number of matchmaking protocols that have been proposed and are more closely related to the problem at hand [11-16]. However, these initiatives do not directly pertain to the “Prom Problem” and identity linked wishes and/or they are vulnerable to significant attacks rendering them unable to afford security and privacy in that context. The “Prom Problem” is where the participants would like to ensure that either they both learn that they share the same identity linked secret (e.g., they want to go to the prom together) or that no party learns any useful information, not even that the other party inquired about a shared secret. The prior art protocols are not privacy preserving with identity linked secrets. Prior protocols lack fairness (joint notification with equivalent exchange) and are vulnerable to a variety of attacks in this context such as inference, impersonation, and privacy compromise in the event of communication or database compromise.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system to disclose a shared, identity linked secret while preserving the privacy of the discloser.